Game Dev Story Review

Ever dreamed of running your own game development studio? Ever want to lose countless hours and friends because of a game? Then Game Dev Story is definitely for you!

Game Dev Story, as the more intelligent readers have probably already figured out, is a game that allows you to run your game development studio. You begin in a small office with two employees while you attempt and making it big. How do you do this? Why, making games of course! Making games is not a complicated process as this is a task management game, and will not have you actually doing any game making, but managing those who do. Hopefully that doesn’t detour you though, as the managing of the tasks is very enjoyable.

Making capital (cash) is the most important objective when you first set out, as it allows you to hire more experienced employees, advertise, appear at GameDex (E3), and run your business. Your primary source of capital will come from the actual selling of the games you make, but because it takes money to make them (licensing fees for console development kits, boosts, and getting your game out there) you also have the option to do contracts for other businesses that only require you to finish them in a certain amount of time. Developing games is much more satisfying and rewarding however as you go through the process of choosing a genre and type, then giving it a name before it’s released.

Game Dev Story was clearly made with a lot of love which you notice quickly as you play through it. There are many small touches such as the humorous industry references (employee names more instance), the gaming magazine, a gaming convention, a game award show, and even more but it wouldn’t be much fun if I ruined it all. One thing to note is that because they don’t have the rights to the console or company names, they decided to slightly tweak them so that they are still recognizable, while remaining abstract. I had a ball just thinking about what each name was supposed to be. They range from the obvious (Stephen Jobson), to the confusing (Nipon). I still don’t know what the Playdion is supposed to be…

Game Dev Story is a great game that gains much of its compelling feeling from the fact that it’s a game development studio and not a bakery or a restaurant. For $3.99 I think it’s worth your money and time.

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